Award Winning Nigeria Cadets

Notwithstanding the Academic exploits by Nigerian Cadets across the world, her contributions to maritime development in Africa and beyond in the areas of capacity building, trainings, shipping development and presence at international conferences on shipping, the country is not listed in any of the categories as recently  announced by the organizing committee of the 2018 maritime awards.

Nigerian Cadets and officials

From the best port, seafarer centre, shipping company to the organisation and individual who have done so much for seafarers – the International Seafarers’ Welfare and Assistance Network (ISWAN) has announced the shortlisted names for the 2018 International Seafarers’ Welfare Awards.

These are the companies, organisations and individuals who have offered exceptional levels of welfare services and facilities to seafarers, and are now in with a chance of landing this prestigious and influential award at a ceremony held at the International Labour Organization (ILO) in Switzerland.

Roger Harris, Executive Director of ISWAN, says: ‘These awards give seafarers the chance to recognise, and say thank you to, those who have offered them high quality welfare services and facilities. More than 2,300 individual nominations have been received from seafarers from all over the world’.

Nominees were asked to submit their entries explaining what they do for seafarers’ welfare, and the sheer scale of support from seafarers for their chosen welfare heroes makes these the biggest awards yet. The competition for the top candidates in four awards categories was intense and hard fought, and ISWAN is delighted to announce the following as being shortlisted for:

Port of the Year Awards

Port of Barcelona, Spain
Port of Brisbane, Australia
Port Houston, USA
Port of Montreal, Canada
Port of Rotterdam, Netherlands
Port of Singapore, Singapore

Seafarers’ Centre of the Year
Durban Seafarers’ Mission, South Africa
Liverpool Seafarers’ Centre, UK
Mariners’ House of Montreal, Canada
Mission to Seafarers Brisbane, Australia
SCI Philadelphia, USA
United Seafarers’ Mission Tauranga, New Zealand

Shipping Company of the Year
Eaglestar
P&O Ferries
Scorpio Ship Management
Seaspan
Thome
Wallem

The Dr. Dierk Lindemann Welfare Personality of the Year
Individuals:
Dan Tolentino, International Maritime Employers’ Council (IMEC)
David Rozeboom, Mariners’ House Montreal
Jasper de Rosario, Sailors’ Society
Maggie Whittingham, The Mission to Seafarers

Organisations:
International Maritime Employers’ Council (IMEC)
Nautilus Welfare Fund

The winner of each category will now be decided by a judging panel formed of experts from across the maritime industry. The winners will be announced at the awards ceremony on 23rd April 2018, to be held at the ILO headquarters in Geneva. The awards will be presented by Guy Ryder, Director-General of the ILO.

The 2018 awards are made possible by a generous grant from the ITF Seafarers’ Trust and the support of Inmarsat (Gold sponsor), the International Chamber of Shipping (Dr Dierk Lindemann Welfare Personality of the Year Award), Garrets International (Shipping Company of the Year Award), Wrist Ship Supply (Seafarers’ Centre of the Year Award) and MF Shipping Group (Port of the Year Award).

The awards are also supported by the International Labour Organization (ILO), the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the International Christian Maritime Association (ICMA) and the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF).

Efforts to get response on why Nigeria is missing from this year’s awards from relevant authorities were in vain.